


Price

by AnselaJonla



Series: Prompt fills [33]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen, Implied/Referenced Domestic Violence, reddit writingprompts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-27
Updated: 2019-12-27
Packaged: 2021-02-24 17:01:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21981337
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnselaJonla/pseuds/AnselaJonla
Summary: A fic written for a prompt on the r/WritingPrompts subreddit:[WP] You are a dragon and a poor woman came to your cave. She is asking for treasure. She is crying and brused. She says that she will do anything for money.
Series: Prompt fills [33]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1097823
Kudos: 4





	Price

"Anything?" I rumble, lowering my head to the ground. The woman flinches slightly as my breath washes over her, but she quickly steels herself. I smell the fear and pain on her, but also the determination that has brought her to my door. "Do you truly mean that?"

She gulps, staring up into my eyes as best as she can. "Yes, mighty dragon. I will do anything you wish, whatever I need to do to earn just a small piece of your treasure."

I rumble low in my throat. It has been a long time, even by my reckoning, since someone came begging for my treasure. More common is some little scrote attempting to steal it, or a knight coming to slay me and take my riches for whichever lord he serves.

The latter are incinerated where they stand, and their mounts (if they survive) driven before me to the village below, where they will be of use. The former I roar and bellow at, and carefully swipe at with my claws. As long as they keep their nerve and remember that I will only tolerate a _small_ theft of just one or two low value items, then they can usually get away with some trinket that will make their lives easier.

Hey, I'm not a _stupid_ dragon. Allowing the 'liberation' of a few small pieces of treasure generates more money and more treasures for me to retrieve later. Letting _all_ of my treasure go would not be so useful. My cousin was slaughtered by a company of soldiers in Matrin, cut from the air by a siege crossbow as he flew to his feeding grounds, and that kingdom _still_ hasn't recovered from the economic consequences nearly two hundred years later.

Okay, maybe being visited by a dozen or so angry relatives didn't do much for them either.

"Why have you come to me? Is there no one else who can give you money?" Only a truly desperate person would make the arduous climb to my lair high above the kingdom. I'm curious as to why this frail looking woman would make the trip, covered in old bruises as she is.

"No, mighty one, I have no one. I have nothing." She looks to be on the verge of tears. "I came here to marry my husband, the son of one of my father's trading partners. I had never met the man, but he was handsome enough, and closer to my age than other men that my father could have chosen. A few years later my father and brother were killed by bandits on the road, and I was left with my husband as my only family, my father's business now part of his own."

I snort impatiently. The interwoven nature of human families holds little interest to me. The woman blanches, but continues to speak. She has spirit, at least.

"My husband desires a child, a son to pass his business to. I have not given him this. The babes die inside of me, or are born too early to survive. This does not please him. Recently he has taken to drinking heavily, and when he is drunk he is more... demonstrative in his displeasure."

I growl truly. I cannot stand those that prey on those who are weaker than them, or those who are dependent on them for survival. I release a gout of flame into the air. My visitor quails, but stands firm. Not through bravery this time, but sheer fear. She speaks again, barely loud enough for me to hear.

"And then, last week, I discovered why he has been out of the house so often. He has another woman, whose belly is round with child, far closer to a true birth than I have ever managed. I fear that he intends to dispose of me, so he can marry her in my place."

"So you came to my cave, to beg for my treasure. What would you do with it?" This woman has strength in her, hidden deep inside. I wonder how far that strength goes.

"I would travel far away, beyond where my _loving_ husband could legally retrieve me. I could buy my way into one of the convents, for instance, or even go to a kingdom beyond the sea. I would be free."

Hmmph, she wants to run away. That is about what I thought she would do. Still, she would be leaving behind a bully and a usurper, two things I can't stand.

"You have a choice, good wife. I will give you a small amount of treasure to leave now, a small trinket worth a few hundred coins if you find the right merchant to trade it to. Or I can give you something greater, if you carry out a small task for me."

She looks apprehensive, but nods in agreement. I explain my task to her, and she departs carrying what she needs to fulfil my wishes.

* * *

It is two weeks before she returns. The bruises have faded from her skin now, and she looks less haunted. She lays the dagger at my feet, blood still staining the blade.

"I returned to the village to find that I had already been declared dead, and my husband already married to his other woman, just as you predicted. As you requested, I entered the house and killed all that lay in the master bedroom, and then I visited those who knew about his treatment of me and allowed it to continue. The wrongs done to me have been revenged."

I rumble happily, and place one massive paw on the woman's chest. "You have completed my quest, and I reward you for that and for your courage in seeking me out." I can feel the magic building building in my paw, waiting to be released into her. "Go now with my blessing, and live your life."

My newest supplicant gasps as my protection flows through her, my mark shimmering into existence on her forehead. None will be able to take my treasure from her by force or deceit, or for a price that is unfair. She will live a comfortable life, wherever she chooses to go, and even if she passes from my domain she will be protected, because harming a Dragonmarked is taboo.

We only had to eat a _few_ people to make that point.


End file.
